27-YEAR-OLD SALONEN: PERIPATETIC CONDUCTOR

Contrary to first visual impressions, Esa-Pekka Salonen, the guest conductor on the podium of the Los Angeles Philharmonic all this month, is not impassive or gloomy.

Backstage at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion after a recent morning rehearsal with the orchestra, the Finnish musician smiled, laughed and became thoughtful, by turns.

Since the 27-year-old conductor-composer holds three posts--principal guest conductor of both the Philharmonia Orchestra in London and the Oslo Philharmonic in Norway and principal conductor of the Swedish Radio Orchestra in Stockholm--one has to wonder: Where does he live?

The answer, given with a smile, is still rueful. “Well, basically, I am domiciled--does one say domiciled?--based in Finland. But I live in Stockholm, and I will soon be moving to London.”

Since his much-publicized debut with the Philharmonia Orchestra two years ago, Salonen said, “I have really been without a home.” That condition, he acknowledged, caused the first cancellation of his career, earlier this autumn, when he decided he needed to take two weeks off.

“I don’t believe in canceling,” he said intently. “But at that time, I felt I was in a tunnel, with no light at the end. I took the time. And I found myself a flat in Stockholm.”

Coincidental with that event was Salonen’s debut on the podium of the Berlin Philharmonic in October. His program listed Haydn’s Symphony No. 99, Liszt’s E-flat Piano Concerto (with Krystian Zimerman as soloist) and Carl Nielsen’s Fourth Symphony.

It went well, Salonen said, yet it was “a very different experience. Of course, it is a splendid orchestra. But for me, as a young conductor, going there is considerably more difficult than going anywhere else.

“The orchestra has a great tradition, but it can be stiff and inflexible in its own, narrow repertory. The Nielsen symphony is not part of that repertory.” He stopped to consider his words carefully. “It wasn’t my easiest rehearsal period.”

In talking about the L.A. Philharmonic, with which Salonen recorded Lutoslawski’s Third Symphony here two weeks ago, the former horn player spoke more comfortably.

“Recording the work in four three-hour sessions was adequate. This orchestra knows how to play contemporary music. It is a fast, flexible group. And there is no attitude problem.”

After three weeks here--his final concert is next Sunday--Salonen goes home to Finland for Christmas.

“Then in mid-January, I go back to Stockholm to rehearse three different programs with the Radio Orchestra. We go on tour for two weeks to the U.K. after that.

“In February, I go to Bologna, to try out my first Mahler Seventh. I wanted to do it there, rather than in a major center. All of March I spend in England. First with the London Sinfonietta, then with Simon Rattle’s orchestra in Birmingham, then with the Philharmonia.

“After that, I don’t remember.”

However, he did recall that he is planning to leave his summers free “for composition and fishing, and other important things.”

As for time for reflection, Salonen said: “That has been a problem. But now I am beginning to make long-range plans. Not just because I am a composer, and want to have time to write. Because anyone, any musician, needs more things in his life than just studying his scores. He needs literature and art and even a social life.”

ALSO AT THE PAVILION: Roger Wagner will conduct three performances of his now-traditional “Messiah” sing-alongs Friday, Saturday and next Sunday at 8 p.m. Featured will be soloists Annie Kim, Suzanne Guzman, Stephen Amerson and Rodney Gilfrey, as well as harpsichordist Marvel Jensen and organist William C. Beck. . . . And Esa-Pekka Salonen ends his three-week visit on the podium of the L.A. Philharmonic with concerts Thursday night at 8 and next Sunday afternoon at 2:30. His program: Sibelius’ tone-poem, “Pohjola’s Daughter,” Telemann’s Trumpet Concerto in D and the Fourth Symphony of Gustav Mahler. Soloists will be Philharmonic principal trumpet Thomas Stevens and British soprano Joan Rodgers.

BRIEFLY: A nine-session course titled “Between Revolution and Empire: The 19th Century Seen Through the Mind and Work of Richard Wagner” begins Jan. 9 at UCLA Extension. It will be taught by Stephen S. Kayser, UCLA professor emeritus. Information: (213) 825-9064. . . . The public is invited to a banquet sponsored by the American String Teachers Assn., Dec. 28 at 7:30 p.m., in the ballroom of the Ambassador Hotel. Violinist Ruggiero Ricci will be honored. For information and reservations (at $22.50 per person), call Elizabeth Ivanoff Holborn at (213) 696-3285. . . . Winners of the seventh annual Young Composers Competition sponsored by the National Assn. of Composers, USA, are Steven Mackey of Princeton, N.J., for his “Crystal Shadows” for flute and piano, and Douglas Schmidt of Vancouver, British Columbia, for his “Music for Pennywhistle, Accordion and Mandolin.”